This summer, Information Systems & Computing (ISC) will replace the current voice mail system in use for almost 15 years. The current system (Octel), because of its age and the scarcity of parts and service, is very costly to maintain. With the new system, we will be better able to provide a high availability for voice mail using modern servers and networks. We can recover from a voice mail server failure or machine room failure in a well-structured and rapid way, as we do for campus email and web servers. With the Octel (today’s voice mail server), by comparison, our recovery is cumbersome and time consuming, and would involve at least some loss of message data. In addition, the new voice mail system will offer a few new features. On your traditional phone, you will be able to listen to deleted voice mail messages and resave them during the same session. Many of the new system prompts will also be similar to the ones you already know. Faculty and staff who elect to use ISC’s new Voice over IP (VoIP) service will be able to listen to voice mail messages via email and manage voice mail features wherever they have access to a web browser. The new system is part of ISC’s initiative to provide the next generation of integrated communication services (data, voice, Internet, media) to the University community.

To access the new voice mail system, you will continue to dial 89-VOICE (898-6423).

Watch for more announcements about the new voice mail system in the coming weeks in University publications. In the meantime, if you have questions, please contact Michele Narcavage, Voice Services Project Leader, at narcavag@isc.upenn.edu. To learn more about the new voice mail system, go to the Voice website at www.upenn.edu/computing/voice and click the link “New Voice Mail System FAQ.” Expect to see more questions added to the FAQ as the conversion date approaches.